Victoria’s new youth crime laws are now in effect. Will they help prevent offences or exacerbate them?

From today, Victorian children 14 years and older will face adult jail time and possible life sentences under Victorian government reforms the premier has dubbed "Adult Time for Violent Crime".

The legislation has drawn criticism from a range of experts and advocacy groups, including First Nations legal organisations who say the new laws will disproportionately impact Aboriginal children.

What laws have changed?

Under the reforms, children 14 and above who commit the following crimes will face trial in the adult County Court instead of the Children’s Court:

• Aggravated home invasion;

• Home invasion;

• Intentionally causing injury in circumstances of gross violence (includes machete crime);

• Recklessly causing injury in circumstances of gross violence (includes machete crime);

• Aggravated carjacking;

• Carjacking;

• Aggravated burglary (serious and repeated), and;

• Armed robbery (serious and repeated).

What’s the difference? The maximum jail sentence that can be imposed in the Children's Court for any offence is three years.

The County Court, however, can impose jail sentences of up to 25 years for violent crimes such as aggravated home invasion.

Children who received harsher sentences will begin their jail term in youth detention facilities, then be transferred to an adult prison when they turn 18.

Who will be impacted? Associate Professor in Criminology and Justice studies at RMIT University, Dr Marietta Martinovic, told the Monitor the legislation would likely exacerbate crime rates by producing reoffenders.

• 🗣️ “We know that a lot of people captured by the youth justice system have suffered from trauma. They’ve experienced domestic or family violence. They're normally victims themselves of various criminal activities,” said Martinovic. “We're going to put those types of children into custody for 25 years and expect them to come out prosocial and ready to live life. It's just preposterous.”

First Peoples Assembly: The First Peoples Assembly, a democratically-elected Aboriginal representative body that advises the state government on laws that impact Indigenous people, has called the changes “unacceptable”.

• 🗣️ Assembly Co-chair, Ngarra Murray, said in a statement: “Our peoples are already over-policed and over-represented in prison populations. Aboriginal communities will again bear the brunt of the government’s proposed changes, which will result in Aboriginal children being locked up in prison and kept away from their families for longer.”

Data from the Sentencing Advisory Council shows that in Victoria in 2023-24, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were 9.4 times more likely to be sent to youth detention than non-Indigenous children.

First Nations legal group response

🗣️CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency, Muriel Bamblett, said in a statement the legislation “will do nothing to divert children from crime, but instead ensure they are trapped in the justice system for life”.

🗣️CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Nerita Waight, said in a statement: “Youth Justice centres are already overwhelmed, conditions will continue to deteriorate, and it is only a matter of time until we are mourning the loss of a child at the hands of the state.”

Human rights groups speak out against the legislation

• The Human Rights Law Centre said in a statement that applying adult penalties to children “undermines Victoria’s human rights obligations, both under international law and Victoria’s own Charter of Human Rights”.

• Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights states: “A child who has been convicted of an offence must be treated in a way that is appropriate for that child's age.”

• The Federation of Community Legal Centres said the “reforms will fall disproportionately on Aboriginal children, children in out-of-home care, and children with disability - groups already overrepresented in the justice system due to systemic discrimination, disadvantage and unmet support needs”.